Astronomy Lecture - If You Give a Black Hole a Cookie

Name: Astronomy Lecture - If You Give a Black Hole a Cookie
Start: 2025-04-04T20:00:00-07:00
Location: 1216 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, United States, California 91125

Schedule

Fri, 04 Apr, 2025 at 08:00 pm

UTC-07:00

Location

1216 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA, United States, California 91125 | Pasadena, CA

How do black holes "eat" the matter around them? What can we learn about black holes from their diet? Join us for a 30-minute lecture about black hole accretion, followed by a panel Q&A consisting of several astrophysicists to answer your questions about astronomy and space science.
This public astronomy event will be hosted both in-person as well as live-streamed over YouTube Live. The lecture will be 30 minutes, followed by a 90-minute session of telescope-aided stargazing and a Q&A Panel consisting of experts in the department on a variety of astronomy and astrophysical topics. You can attend in person or interact with us through the YouTube interface. Event is free and open to all, no reservations necessary.
For more information including a link to the YouTube Livestream and directions to Caltech, click on the poster image or visit our webpage: http://outreach.astro.caltech.edu
Title: If You Give a Black Hole a Cookie
Lecturer: Jean Somalwar
Abstract:
Black holes are arguably the strangest objects in our universe. While black holes themselves are black, the regions around them can glow brightly as the black holes consume nearby material. One of the primary ways scientists detect black holes is through the light emitted by these accretion disks, which funnel material inward to be devoured. But what exactly happens when you give a black hole something to eat? In this talk, I will describe the processes through which black holes, from the smallest to the largest, consume matter. I'll describe how astronomers use black hole dinnertime as a way to find and study these remarkable objects, what we still don't know, and how we hope to learn more soon.